Signal



y 1934- M; CORPORA 1,968,374

SIGNAL Filed Sept. 15, 19:52

lllllllllli 29b F19 uRE 1 2 I/VVE/VT'OR Patented July 31, 1934 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE SIGNAL 11:

Michael Corpora, San Jose, Calif.

Application September 13, 1932, Serial No. 632,940

1 Claim.

The present invention relates particularly to that type of signalsmountable upon a motor vehicle and operated by the driver thereof toindicate a proposed action, that is, whether he is going to slow down orstop, or turn to the left, or turn to the right.

It is the object of the invention to provide a device of the characterindicated that may be operated by a small amount of electrical currentfrom the battery of the vehicle.

It is another object of the invention to provide a device of thecharacter indicated that will be small and compact in form, economicalto manufacture, of few parts, simple in construction, strong, durable,positive in operation, and highly efi'icient in its practicalapplication.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a device embodying my invention, partlyin section and parts broken away.

Figure 2 is a view on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view on line 3--3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4. is a diagrammatical illustration showing the wiring systemembodied in the device.

Referring now more particularly to the specific embodiment of theinvention herein disclosed, I show at 1 a frame mounted in any suitablemanner, as at 2, upon the vehicle structure in a position where it maybe readily seen from both front and rear.

The three essential operating parts of the device are identical inconstruction, therefore but one part will be described in detail,similar portions of the other two parts being indicated by similarreference characters followed by the letter a in one case and by theletter b in the other.

Mounted, then, upon the lower end of the frame is a plate 3, the platebeing circular in form and provided with bosses 4 which slidably engagethe two side rods of the frame, the plate being held fixedly thereon bymeans of set screws 5. In this plate are disposed symmetrically arrangedelectromagnets as 6, the magnets being connected in an electricalcircuit '7 including terminal 8, switch 9, battery 10 grounded at 11. Inthe center of the plate, and centrally disposed with relation to thefour magnets, is formed a bearing 12.

At 13 is shown an operating rod having sliding engagement with thebearing 12, and also with bearings 12a and 12b. To the upper end of thisrod is attached a cable 14 which passes over a small pulley 15 on shaft16, and then over a larger pulley 1'7 on shaft 18. On the shaft 18 ismounted signal arm 19 which is moved into positions 20, 21, 22 when therod 13 is pulled downwardly as hereinafter described.

At 23 is shown a disc of magnetic material such as steel capped withplate of nonmagnetic material as at 24. The rod 13 passes centrallythrough this element which is mounted thereon by means of a screw 25engaging a groove 26. Formed in the bottom surface of part 23, and onopposite sides of the rod 13, are recesses 27 lined with a nonmagneticmaterial as at 28. At 29 is a small disc of magnetic material mountedupon a nonmagnetic bolt 30 which passes through, and has slidingengagement with, disc 23. The bolt 30 is of such a length that the disc29 is suspended below the disc 23 when the device is in an inoperativeposition.

When the device is assembled as described the discs 29 overlie portionsof two of the magnets 6 as shown in dotted lines at 31 in Figure 2, therest of the magnets being exposed to act upon the overlying disc 23.

If it is desired to swing arm 19 to position 20, then circuit '71) isclosed and magnets 61) are energized. The energized magnets 6b pulldiscs 2% down into contact with them, and in doing so bring disc 231)into their magnetic fields so that it, too, is pulled down into contactwith them, the discs 29b seating in recesses 27b. This downward movementof disc 23b actuated the rod 13 and through it the cable 14. and pulley1'7 to move the arm 19 into the desired position.

The positions 21 and 22 are attained by moving the switch through 8b toSc and thence to 8 where the discs 23a and 23 are moved into range andacted upon by their respective magnets.

The weight of the elements 23, 23a, 232) are such that they nearlybalance the arm 19 and working parts so that the work of the magnets isreduced to a minimum, the parts returning to their normal positions whenthe magnets are deenergized by the overbalancing weight of the arm 19.

It is to be understood, of course, that while I have herein shown anddescribed but one specific embodiment of the invention, changes in form,construction and method of assembly and operation may be made within thescope of the appended claim.

I claim:

In an assembly of the character described a fixedly supported magnet andmeans for energizing the same, a rod slidably mounted relative thereto,a magnetic element mounted on the rod to overlie the magnet and normallyheld in spaced relation thereto by said rod, a magnetic 1 disposed inthe magnetic field of the magnet when the disc is in the last namedposition and drawn into contact therewith when the disc is in the lastnamed position, whereby to move the rod.

MICHAEL CORPORA.

